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Written Question
Personal Care Services: VAT
Monday 22nd March 2021

Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of temporarily reducing VAT to 5 per cent for businesses in the hairdressing and beauty industry.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of about 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors.

This relief comes at a significant cost to the Exchequer, and there are no plans to extend the scope of the reduced rate. This policy will cost over £7 billion.

The Government has made available a wider package of support worth billions which includes extensions to the furlough scheme; extensions to the COVID-19 loan schemes; grant support; a business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure business properties; mortgage holidays; enhanced Time to Pay for taxes; and VAT deferrals.


Written Question
Directors: Coronavirus
Friday 15th January 2021

Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of companies in which the director has been ineligible for covid-19-related financial support in (a) England, (b) the North West and (c) Wirral.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The information requested is not available. Company directors who pay themselves a salary through their company’s PAYE scheme may be eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). The CJRS has been extended until the end of April 2021 for all parts of the UK, with employees receiving 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. By extending the cut-off date to submit a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC to the period from 20 March to 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee, the CJRS extension should be available to those directors who paid themselves after 19 March 2020.


Written Question
Working Tax Credit: Coronavirus
Wednesday 7th October 2020

Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families with children received the £20 per week uplift in working tax credit basic element payments, announced on 20 March 2020, in (a) Wirral West constituency and (b) the UK, in each month since that uplift was introduced.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The latest available information on the number of families with children receiving Working Tax Credit at the parliamentary constituency level is for April 2020. In April 2020, the number of families with children receiving Working Tax Credit in the Wirral West constituency was 600: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-and-working-tax-credits-statistics-provisional-awards-geographical-analyses-december-2013.

Information on following months is not readily available. The next update to this publication will provide statistics relating to December 2020 and will be available in January 2021.

Final annual information on families with children receiving Working Tax Credits is published once a year and updated each July: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-and-working-tax-credits-statistics-finalised-annual-awards-2018-to-2019.


Written Question
Labour Market: Coronavirus
Tuesday 14th July 2020

Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations in the report entitled, The Full Monty Facing up to the challenge of the coronavirus labour market crisis, published by the Resolution Foundation in June 2020.

Answered by Jesse Norman

As the Chancellor has said, protecting against significant job losses is the most urgent challenge the Government faces as it moves into phase two of the economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, the Chancellor announced the Plan for Jobs, a package worth up to £30 billion to support, protect and create jobs, with this focus on jobs being welcomed by the Resolution Foundation. This broad package includes measures such as the Kickstart Scheme to create hundreds of thousands of high quality six-month work placements aimed at young people at the highest risk of long-term unemployment, doubling the number of Work Coaches in Jobcentres, the Job Retention Bonus and the Green Homes Grant. The Government considers views from a wide range of organisations, including the Resolution Foundation, and takes account of these as it develops policy.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Monday 5th November 2018

Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to line 15 of table 2.1 on page 36 of the Budget 2018 Red Book, for what reasons he estimates that the revised implementation schedule for universal credit will result in increased revenue for the Exchequer between 2020-21 and 2023-24.

Answered by Elizabeth Truss

The explanation for the costing associated with the revised Universal Credit implementation schedule is set out on page 11 of the Budget 2018 Policy Costings document.


Written Question
Welfare Tax Credits: Farmers
Tuesday 18th April 2017

Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many farmers are currently in receipt of tax credits.

Answered by Jane Ellison

Data held by HM Revenue and Customs on tax credit claimants does not specify where claimants are farmers.


Written Question
Climate Change Levy
Monday 7th September 2015

Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will commission an analysis of the potential effect on the UK renewable electricity generation companies of its proposed removal of the Climate Change Levy exemption for renewable power.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Removing the CCL renewables exemption will not increase wholesale electricity prices, and the energy market for businesses and public sector organisations is very competitive.

Removing the CCL renewables exemption means the CCL will continue to add 5%-7% to public sector energy bills, which is consistent with estimates published by DECC. This provides a price signal to incentivise much needed energy efficiency improvements.


Written Question
Climate Change Levy
Monday 7th September 2015

Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will commission a detailed analysis of the potential effect on the electricity bills of public sector consumers on the proposed removal of the Climate Change Levy exemption.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

This Government takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. We are committed to meeting our climate change commitments as cost effectively as possible. We are currently making good progress with emissions down 30% since 1990.

Any loss that UK renewable generators face as a result of the Climate Change Levy (CCL) will be small compared to the total amount of support they receive from other Government policies.

The renewable electricity generation sector will also benefit from the Government’s recent cuts to corporation tax, which will save businesses over £10bn a year.